The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 367

He tried calling back, but no one answered.

The group looked around in panic, searching for help, their eyes landing on Haynes.

“Mr. O'Brien, you can't just walk away from this! We... we were only following your instructions!”

Haynes, still stinging from the slap Stella had just given him, stood there with a stormy, unreadable expression.

His voice was ice-cold. “And when did I ever tell you to do any of this?”

The headmaster was on the verge of tears. “But we got the notice—it really did come from you!”

Watching this unfold, Rachel felt a chill run down her spine. This was bad.

The headmaster pleaded, “These orders came directly from one of your oldest friends, Mr. Wilkinson. He called us himself. People like us—how could we possibly risk crossing someone like you?”

Haynes’ face darkened further. Without hesitation, he dialed Jasper’s number.

“Get over here. Now.”

He didn’t wait for Jasper to respond and hung up immediately.

Rachel wanted to warn Jasper, but fiddling with her phone in front of so many people would be way too obvious. She’d only draw attention—and maybe get herself implicated in all this.

So be it, she thought. If she got caught, she got caught.

After all, this entire scheme had been Jasper’s idea in the first place. She had only helped polish the details, smoothing things over so the plan wouldn’t be discovered too quickly.

At first, Jasper had quietly approached a few parents, hinting that maybe their children should make things difficult for Marvin.

But when Rachel found out, she quickly put a stop to it. If Marvin came home covered in bruises, it would be far too obvious—anyone would notice.

But social isolation was different.

Sometimes, wounds to the heart cut deeper than anything you could see. If Marvin went to complain, what difference would it make? You can’t force kids to be friends. If they didn’t want to play with him or talk to him, no one could make them.